SIVANANDA DAILY READING FOR 21 SEPTEMBER NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI

The state of samadhi is beyond the reach of mind and speech. Even in
worldly experience, you cannot express taste. You cannot express the
taste of an apple to one who has not tasted it, nor can you explain
the nature of colour to a blind man. The state of samadhi is all joy,
bliss and peace; this much only can be said. One has to feel this for
himself.

In samadhi or the superconscious state, the meditator loses his
individuality and becomes identical with the supreme self. He becomes
an embodiment of bliss, peace and knowledge. So much only can be
said. This can be experienced by you through constant meditation.

Nirvikalpa samadhi is the state of superconsciousness or godhead.
There is no vikalpa or imagination of any sort in this condition.
This is20the goal of life. All mental activities cease now. The
function of the intellect and the ten indriyas. (senses) cease
entirely.

The spiritual aspirant now rests in atman (self). There is no
distinction between subject and object. The world and the pairs of
opposites vanish absolutely. This is a state beyond all relativity ­
though it is not a state of inertia. It is a condition of complete,
perfect awareness. It is indescribable. It must be felt and
experienced by the aspirant himself. In this state the triad ­ the
knower, known and knowable ­ disappears. Man is now Brahman -­ there is
no jivahood.

Try to enjoy that sleepless state wherein all senses and mind remain
in a state of quietude and the intellect ceases functioning. The
sleepless sleep is maha nidra (the superconscious state). There is no
waking from this sleep.

In samadhi the yogi gets himself merged in the Lord. All limitations
and differences disappear. The yogi attains highest knowledge and
bliss. This state is beyond description. You will have to realise it
yourself.

Samadhi is the superconscious state in which the veil of ignorance is
suddenly lifted and the devotee merges in the overwhelming glory of
the one true divine effulgence. In samadhi the soul becomes loosened
from its material prison and is separated from individual
consciousness. An ecstatic feeling of oneness arises and the soul
becomes absorbed in the infinite intelligence from which it emanated.

After attaining samadhi a man, though possessed of great spiritual
powers, does not wish to change the conditions and circumstances in
which he lived before attaining it. In samadhi, ordinary
consciousness has flowered into superconsciousness. The stream of
samsara (the stream of births and deaths) has ceased to flow.